Anna Surprenant
Group Analysis Paper
Group Analysis Paper
Remember the Titans
Anna Surprenant
Anna Surprenant
Group Analysis Paper
Remember the Titans is a movie that takes place in 1971 in Alexandria,
Virginia during the beginning of black and white integration. The movie is based on
the true story of the T.C Williams High School football team. In 1971, the school
became the only public senior institution that served 11th and 12th graders after a
federal citywide desegregation order. The town was in an uproar about it because it
meant that black and white students would be attending the same school and would
be playing on the same sports teams.
Led by Coach Bill Yoast, the T.C Williams football team was known for its
winning seasons and championship appearances. All this changed when the
leadership of the team was put under a black man, Coach Herman Boone. The
current team and Coach Yoast were nothing but appalled at the news. So much so
that Coach Yoast wanted to take the year off and then move to a different town
where he could coach a different team. However, instead of doing so he became the
head defensive coach for Coach Boone.
Every year for two weeks, the football team goes to camp at Gettysburg
College. From even before they stepped foot on the bus, there was already conflict
between the black and white players. Coach Boone makes it very clear from the
beginning that the team would come together and get over their differences. He
does this by taking everyone off the bus and pairing black and white players to sit
next to each other on the bus and to room with once arriving at camp.
Once arriving at camp, it didn’t take very long for a physical fight to break out
started by white team captain Gerry, and black team captain Julius Campbell. At
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Group Analysis Paper
practice, it is evident that the black and white players are not willing to work with
one another. Players such as Ray Budds who is white, refuse to block for black
teammates.
Part of Coach Boone’s plan to bring the team together is to have every player
spend time with a player of a different race and learn about them. He said that until
each player meets, they will run 3 a day practices and if they continue to ignore each
other, they would move to 4 a day practices. Talking seems to be a struggle between
Gerry and Julius until after a hard late night practice, when Gerry confronts Julius.
Gerry tells Julius that he is waste of God given talent and that he doesn’t listen to
anyone. He also tells him that he is not actually playing football because he won’t
tackle black running back Petey. Julian proceeds to tell Gerry that he is not doing his
job as a captain because he won’t confront the white players for not blocking for
black quarterback, Rev.
After a lot of frustration at his team fighting and not working together, Coach
Boone wakes up the team at 3am to go on a jog through the woods. He leads them to
the Gettysburg battlegrounds and cemetery. Once arriving, he points out that 50,000
men died fighting the same battle that they were fighting. He tells them how hatred
will destroy them by saying, “If we don’t come together right now on this hollow
ground, we too will be destroyed. And maybe along the way, we can learn to play
this game as men.”
That night at practice, Coach Boone makes the team run the same play until
they get it right. The team struggles to do this because the black and white players
are only playing so that their race succeeds. This all ends when Gerry yells at Ray for
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Group Analysis Paper
not blocking and when Julian finally tackles Rev. Julian and Gerry come together and
show the team through their leadership that the team must come together. This
makes the other teammates follow along and work together too.
After a successful two weeks of camp, the team heads back to the reality of
Alexandria. Even though the team gets along, the first day of school is a nightmare of
the other students fighting and causing major conflict. Despite the conflict, the team
is able win the first two games of the season.
Even though the team is winning, there are still problems among the players
and the coaches. The coaches do not trust each other and have disagreements on
coaching styles while the team is dealing with the anger of other students and
community members who are trying to tear them apart. How they overcome this is
by the team calling a meeting to come together and overcome the adversity they are
facing. Coach Boone reaches out to Yoast and gives him some resources to help with
the defense.
In the following game, the team truly comes together and protects one
another, except Ray who does not block for Rev who ends up getting a season
ending injury. This results in Gerry kicking him off of the team. After the win and
having Ray off of the team, the team works their way to the regional championship
game. In this game, Coach Yoast is supposed to make the team lose or he will lose
himself the hall of fame. Yoast struggles with this but in his frustration of the refs
making unfair calls on the team, he calls out the ref on it and leads the defense to a
victory and in result, loses the hall of fame.
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Group Analysis Paper
The team finds themselves in the state championship. Saddened by the
accident that leaves Gerry paralyzed, the team must overcome the hardship. The
team is able to do this, and they win the state championship.
In analyzing this movie, it is clear that the Titans football team is a
combination of a social group and task group, meaning that the purpose of the group
is to complete a task to do as part of a larger organization. The reason members
serve on a task group is because of a particular knowledge or interest. The way the
team is a social group is because the reason the players are on the team is because
they want to fulfill a social need to interact with other people. The other reason the
players are on the team is because they all have the common interest of playing
football. The players desire to play football trumps any reason they would have not
to play because the team is of mixed races.
In the beginning of the film, the team has the same goal of winning, but with a
few differences on how they will get there. The white players want to take over and
dominate the field with no help of the black players. The black players are simply
excited about the chance to play football. Coach Boone wants the team to be perfect,
and the team to come together while Coach Yoast wants his head coach position
back by coaching the defense by himself. It is not until when the team goes on the
run to Gettysburg and the night practice where Julian and Gerry step up as leaders
where the team comes together and is willing to work together to achieve the goal of
winning the state championship.
Despite the team coming together at the end of camp, they still face problems
with the team falling apart because of the conflict between other students at the
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Group Analysis Paper
school and the community. The coaches also struggle to see eye to eye in their
coaching styles and the intentions they each have. The team overcomes this
adversity when two players of the team call a meeting without coaches. Many
members of the team don’t want to be there but Julian and Gerry step up and force
everyone to stay to listen to what their teammates have to say. Players, Lewie and
Rev talk about how the team is nothing even though they won a few games. They
address the fact that they came together at camp but then when they came back to
where people don’t want them together, they are falling apart. At this meeting, the
group regains their strength and focus towards their goal of proving to everyone
that they can win together. This is proven in the next game when Rev gets hurt
because Ray purposely misses a block. This results in Gerry kicking him off the team
even though they have a friendship. Gerry did this because he knew that Ray did not
have the same goal as the rest of the team did.
The coaches had the same goal throughout most of the movie, but it wasn’t
until the regional championship game where Coach Yoast truly showed that his
intentions were good and his goal was the same. In the game, his fall of fame
nomination was at stake. He had to make the team lose to secure his spot in the hall
of fame. He throws this all away when he calls out the game officials on making
purposely against the Titans. Yoast then leads the defense to win the game to head
onto the state championship game.
The most difficult time for the team was in the forming stages of the group. It
was clear from the beginning that there would be conflict simply because of the mix
of races among the players. In the beginning of the summer football camp, players
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Group Analysis Paper
were separated based on race and no one wanted to work together. Physical fights
would break out for pointless reasons, these fights and misunderstandings brought
the team closer apart.
The storming part of the group organization happened when Coach Boone
knew he needed to step up and do something about the fighting and lack of
cohesiveness among his players. Most everyone was fighting, there were character
problems between Julius and Gerry seeking power within the group, teammates did
not respect Boone’s authority, and teammates did not have the same goal. Boone’s
solution to this was to have each player sit down with a teammate of a different race
and get to know details of their life. This was difficult for many of the players, but it
was not until Gerry and Julius came together that the group came together.
Once the group finally was starting to come together, they could allow the
group norms to be formed. A scene in the movie where this can be seen is in the
locker room after an afternoon practice. The teammates are making momma jokes,
are singing, and just goofing around. Overall, the norm in the group becomes the
respect they each have for one another despite the color of skin. This norm is
highlighted when the team arrives back from camp and no one else at school seems
to agree with integration and getting along.
Finally, after the group came together, it was time for the performing stage of
the group development. The group had developed its relationships, structure,
norms, and purpose. After overcoming adversity, the team was able to handle other
issues that came along in the season. Because the team went through a lot of
hardship and struggles to come together, they had a much better understanding of
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Group Analysis Paper
each other; this allowed them to overcome the struggle to win the state
championship.
Looking at the roles of the group, distinctive characteristics of the
various members of the group come out. Boone is appointed as the head coach by
the school board only because they needed to intergrade the school and sports
teams, not because of his leadership style. He exemplifies the qualities of a strong
and inspirational leader. In analyzing his specific style of coaching, Boone took on
several roles in order to overcome the challenge of changing the culture of the team.
Through Boone’s leadership and strategy to bring the team together, two team
leaders emerged among the players, Gerry and Julius. These teammates hated each
other until a late night practice where they formed a bond that unified the team.
Gerry and Julius’ leadership was key in the success of the group, because they led by
example and showed the team that they needed to work together and respect Coach
Boone and his authority.
Other than the leadership roles of the team there are other roles of the team
that are easy to examine. Ray was the player who never went along with the group
moving forward and coming together. He continued to not get along with other
teammates, and purposely miss blocks in games, which led to Rev getting injured.
Ray’s role in the team was egocentric, meaning that he had individual concerns and
interests that hindered the group’s synergy. Overall, each player affected the team
through his own unique personalities, needs, abilities, and self-esteem. Having team
members learn and understand these needs, helped lead the team success because
they knew how to handle different situations along the way.
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Group Analysis Paper
Without thinking about it, someone can sit down and enjoy this movie but if
you look deeper, there is a lot that can be analyzed. From the beginning it is evident
that the group will struggle to come together. By understanding how group
communication works at the stages that a group must go through in order to
succeed, it is interesting to break down the steps it took for this team to come
together.
Anna Surprenant
Group Analysis Paper
Works Consulted
Young, Kathryn S., Julia T. Wood, Gerald M. Phillips, and
Douglas J. Pedersen. Group Discussion. 4th ed. Long Grove,
Illinois: Waveland, 2007. Print.
Remember the Titans. Dir. Boaz Yakin. Perf. Denzel Washington
and Will Patton. Walt Disney, 2000. DVD.